“My employees are so valuable to me. They have this institutional knowledge and rely on their income from this job to support their families”: EarthQuaker Devices CEO reveals the Ohio-based business is at risk of going bankrupt amidst tariff uncertainty

Juan Alderete, bassist for The Mars Volta, and Nick Reinhart, guitarist for Tera Melos, perform for an artist demo at the EarthQuaker Devices booth during the NAMM Show on January 25, 2019, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.

The CEO and co-founder of the Ohio-based off-kilter pedal makers EarthQuaker Devices, Julie Robbins, has shared that the business is at risk of going bankrupt by the end of the year as a result of recently enacted tariffs, which have reportedly increased costs and slowed sales for the company.

Robbins faced federal lawmakers last week (on May 14) during a speech before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, stating [as reported by Akron Beacon Journal], “We have perfect credit and we’ve never missed a payment, but we’re rapidly running out of liquidity.”